


Dark Horse Hero

by buttonmash



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia Manga Spoilers, Crack Treated Seriously, Elements of Harmony (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Fairy Tale Elements, Horses, Midoriya Izuku & Shinsou Hitoshi Friendship, Midoriya Izuku Has Multiple Quirks, Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, My First AO3 Post, My Little Pony References, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Quirk Study (My Hero Academia), Quirks (My Hero Academia), Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru, i just want to talk about ponies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-24 01:02:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30064293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buttonmash/pseuds/buttonmash
Summary: Midoriya Izuku always loved stories, tales about magic, and friendship, and harmony.But when he gets One For All and finds his favorite story true, he sure is in for more than he bargained for.Luckily, with his friends by his side, he can take on anything, because...Friendship is magic
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. (Insert Clever Horse Pun)

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, hi, I'm buttonmash, and this is my first work?? I started one or two things in the past but deleted it, but I've gotten this partially written out! Honestly, this took so many drafts, everything came out so salty, haha!! I hope it goes better as it goes along, and of course it will take a bit to bring in all the ponies and magic and whatnot.

_Once upon a time, magic came to the world. Powers were popping up everywhere, starting with a glowing baby. In Japan when this all began, there were two brothers who loved each other very much. The older brother was blessed with a powerful gift, being able to take and give powers. He was strong and willful. The younger brother was blessed with no such thing. He was weak and sickly, but had a heart for justice. As time went on, the older brother became resentful. People came to the older brother, giving him power, but the younger shunned him for it. One fateful day, the older brother forced a stockpiling power onto the younger. The younger brother tried to reason with him, but the older one’s heart had transformed him into a wicked monster of darkness: All For One. He vowed that he wouldn’t stop, he would rise to power. So when trying to fight back, the younger brother found he had a hidden quirk, one that could be transferred person to person. Reluctantly, the younger brother harnessed his power, and passed it on, leading it to be passed many other times. As the stockpiling power got passed on, it only got stronger, being dubbed “One For All.” Using One For All, each holder has tried defeating All For One, taking responsibility and maintaining harmony in the land._

“Hmm, One For All, I feel like I’ve heard that before, but where?” Midoriya Izuku didn’t mean to voice his thoughts out loud, even if quietly, but this story was… intriguing, for lack of a better word. Something called out to him, the words pulled him in like a magnet. Unfortunately for the boy, not everyone cared. Mainly, one Bakugou Katsuki. 

“Shut up, Deku! Stop muttering, that’s so annoying!” Two explosion-making hands landed on his desk, inches away from the story book. Ah, there Bakugou was.

‘Delightful as always,’ Izuku thought to himself. That’s all he can do. Think. Lest he be punished by his peers. And even thinking too much still got him punished. Just like right now.

“Nerd, you’re worse than everyone here! Just a quirkless loser, you’ll never amount to anything!” Almost drowning out the insults and jabs were the laughs, and Izuku couldn’t tell which was worse. “You’re always stuck in those damn stories, pay attention to real life for a sec! Not everything is friendship and smiles like you might think! So once your head is out of the fucking clouds, you might learn! I’m gonna leave this shitty school and be the number one hero, and everyone will know I’m the best! You’re just a stepping stone!”

“Bakugou, take that somewhere else or wait till after school,” the teacher interrupted. And thank heavens for that.

So, the rest of the day passes by in a blur, Izuku’s mind stuck on his book. He needs to get to a library for research. Something sounded so familiar, he couldn’t place what. 

It seems like the universe had other ideas, though. As the day ended, Bakugou’s wrath simply came sooner.

“Deku,” a burning hand was placed on his shoulder. “We’re not done talking.” 

One of Bakugou’s friends picked up Izuku’s book. “What’s this, his diary?”

“Hey! Please give it back! That’s so mean!” Was all Izuku could say.

The other lackey laughed, and Bakugou only seemed to get madder, and snatched the book, burning it with his explosion quirk, and throwing it out a window. “Fucking nerd. People say that the best heroes show greatness early on, and everyone can look at them and see potential. When people look at me, that’s what they think! I’m gonna be number one, listen here! So, here’s a word of advice,” a sickly sweet smile is flashed at Izuku. “Just pray that maybe you will be born in a world full of kindness and glitter or whatever loser shit like that, and take a swan dive off the roof!”

Bakugou and his friends walked out laughing, leaving Izuku on his own, back to his thoughts.

‘Idiot! If I really jumped, that would mean you instigated suicide! Then your dreams would be crushed! … Just like mine, I guess. Ah,’ he thought glumly while leaving school, turning to see his book in the fountain. ‘Hey, that’s not fish food. Stupid Kacchan.’ And all he could do was sigh and walk away.

When Izuku was a kid, all he could think about was heroes. Every breath was spent thinking about them. Bright colors, flashy powers, confident and kind. What more could they do to allure children? Everyone wanted a cool quirk and to be a hero. More specifically, the number one hero, just like All Might. Ah, All Might, the coolest hero ever! Handsome, strong, and gifted with an amazing strength quirk. So powerful, he could do anything! So when Izuku turned four years old, waiting for his quirk to come in and his life to become magic, it was just his luck, or lack of it, to be diagnosed quirkless. Just like an incurable disease, at least it felt like it.

After that damn diagnosis, everything changed. His friends were so mean to him, his teachers didn’t do a thing, only encouraging others being mean, and his mom treated him like glass. So, when life disappoints you, at least fantasy is right there. Books, stories, tales. All those took up young Izuku’s time now.

The boy spent most of his time at the library, sitting in the back and reading. No one would bother him there, and he didn't mind being alone. Really, he didn’t. People are disappointing, but if you don’t like a book, there will always be another.

And out of all these stories, his favorite was “The Tale of Two Brothers”. He must have read it hundreds of times, it was dear to his heart. Honestly, it was quite sad. A cruel man turning on his family, his brother, someone who loved him. And the younger brother just wanted to help, but they had to fight. He really connected with the younger brother, that’s mainly why he liked the story. 

Most of what Izuku read was from the pre-quirk era, a time when magic powers were dreams, but The Tale of Two Brothers called to him. He just couldn’t explain it. So, in hopes to find something, the boy was heading to the library.

___________________________________________________________________

Not paying attention to his surroundings, Izuku didn’t hear the movement of slime behind him. “Hahaha, you’ll make a perfect skin suit, kid! Don’t worry, I only wanna take over your body! Calm down, it’ll only take a minute!” Slimy tendrils wrapped around him, trying to suffocate him. Izuku could only let it happen, only hearing a faint “I am here!” before passing out by the slime villain’s hands.

A lot of quick slaps to the face wake up Izuku, followed by an exclamation. “Hey! Hey wake up! Thought we lost you there!”

“Oh my gosh, it’s All Might!” Izuku couldn't contain his excitement, but it made sense, seeing the number one hero. 

“I’m glad you’re okay! I’m very sorry you got caught up in my justice-ing! I usually don’t make mistakes like this, but the sewer system here is very hard to navigate, haha!” As Izuku tried to compose himself, All Might carried on. “You have been a big help! Thank you, I’ve contained the evildoer!” The hero held up a pop bottle filled with the evil sludge.

Finally, Izuku managed to speak, “Oh gosh, an autograph! I need a pen, where is it? Ah! Of all times not to have a notebook!” He saw his bag on the ground, and his book was sprawled out, a giant autograph on the first page. “Oh, he… signed my book. Well, an autograph’s an autograph? Thank you!”

Flashing a thumbs up, the symbol of peace prepared to leave. “Haha! Well, I gotta take this guy to the station! I will be on my way! Stay safe, young one!”

“Wait! You’re leaving?! Already?!”

“Heroes are constantly fighting time, as well as villains!”

‘I have so many things I need to ask him, he can’t leave yet!’ Izuku thought.

“Please, stand back! I’ll be off now! Thank you for the support!” As the blond hero jumped up, Izuku latched onto his leg, hoping to stop him. “Hey, hey, hey! I love my fans, but this is simply too much!” The hero tried to push the boy off, until he heard the protest.

“If you drop me, I’ll die! I really need to ask you something!”

“Alright, alright,” All Might accepted. “Keep your eyes and mouth shut!”

Izuku didn’t see with his eyes closed, but more than a little blood flew from All Might’s mouth, and it didn’t seem like an out of the blue experience for the hero.

When they landed on an apartment building, Izuku felt like he could hurl. “My whole life just flashed before my eyes…”

“That was very dangerous. Bang on the door for a while, someone will let you in. Now I really must go, I am out of time.” All Might was getting somewhat impatient., wanting to leave.

“Wait, please don’t go! I have a question! I… I’m a loser. I’m a quirkless loser, and I’m useless. I love fairy tales and stories, and they’re all I have. I just wish that just like in those stories, there was more peace and friendship. And that’s why I want to be a hero! To help people and fix things! Do you think a quirkless kid like me could ever be a hero like you?”

While talking, the boy didn’t see the puff of smoke from All Might, or the withered man in it. When he did, though, all he could do was scream.

“Aaaaaaaah! What happened? A-All Might?” Izuku managed to ask.

“You know how guys are always sucking up their guts and flexing at pools? Yeah, that’s how it is.”

“Really?” Honestly, Izuku had read some wild things, and knowing that quirks could do about anything, he wasn’t too fazed, but it was still… sad. To see the number one hero deflate into a sickly old man, it was like hearing your favorite story false. 

And to really stick the last nail in the coffin, All Might pulled up his shirt, showing off a nasty scar, spanning almost his whole left side. “Gross, right? A few years ago, I had an awful fight, and it destroyed my respiratory system and stomach. I can only do hero work for a few hours, but the rest of the time, I look like this.”

“Oh.” Izuku tried to think on the fight. “Was that the fight with Toxic Chainsaw?”

A small, sad laugh came from the hero. “Wow, you sure know your stuff, but no. He was strong, but I was much stronger. The real story was much too dangerous, it was kept under wraps. I’m the symbol of peace, it’s my job to smile and make people feel safe. But I have to smile to hide the fear. There’s so much that even I can not do, I have to keep going, though. Even though I am here, there is still so much hate, so much violence, and it’s nowhere near stopping. And I’m the number one hero, I have a powerful quirk. So no, I don’t believe you can be a hero without a quirk, much less make such an impact. Maybe you could become a cop, or even a politician if peace is really what you want. They’re both fine professions. It’s not bad to dream, just remember to be realistic, alright? I must be off now.”

As All Might jumped off, Izuku headed down. Gosh, he was just upset now. His favorite book got destroyed, his ‘friend’ told him to jump, his hero tells him he can’t be a hero, and then he’s left on a tall building by himself. And just to top it off, the nearby explosions were really hurting his ears! Wait…. Explosions? 

Making somewhat a dumb decision, Izuku decided to check out the commotion. Running through the crowd, he saw the same sludge villain that attacked him before! Attacking Kacchan! Oh no! Kacchan! Why aren’t the heroes doing anything? He could suffocate soon! 

So, making a much, much dumber decision than before, Izuku runs in, tossing his backpack at the villain’s eyes, and tries to grab Kacchan. 

Unknown to the crowd, All Might was there, just deflated. Inspired by the young man’s actions, he puffs up, punching away the villain with more than enough strength. One punch, and the day was saved, the weather changed, and the crowd was cheering. All Might was really legendary!

_________________________________________________

Of course, there was still the aftermath. Izuku got chewed out by the heroes there for having a death wish and running in, while Kacchan was praised for his powerful quirk, even asked if he wanted to be a hero’s sidekick when older.

Even after the heroes were done and Izuku could get away, Kacchan just followed, if only to yell more.

“Deku!” He ran up. “I would never ask for a weakling like you to help me! I was fine on my own, and you’re a quirkless nobody! Don’t you dare look down on me! You didn’t do anything and I don’t owe you anything!” Oh. And he ran off.

“Kacchan was right though,” Izuku whispered to himself. “I really didn’t do anything. I should just go back to giving up on my dreams. Oh, or maybe go to the library. I was headed there before… everything. Yeah, that sounds nice.” If no one had him, at least books had him.

Walking to the library, the evening was quite peaceful. Until All Might showed up again, in all his hero glory! 

“Ah! All Might, where did you come from? How’d you get rid of those reporters?”

“Hahahaha! I stand for justice, not soundbytes! Because I am A-” The hero deflated, thrown into a coughing fit. “Young man, I came here to thank you. And to discuss your question from earlier. If you hadn’t told me about yourself earlier, if you hadn't run in to save that boy… I would have been a worthless bystander earlier. So thank you, you were very inspiring.”

“Oh! Oh jeez! It was my fault the villain escaped earlier! I just got in the way of everything.”

“Wait, I wasn’t done. I saw you, a scared, quirkless boy try so hard. Like I said before, you inspired me to act. Most great heroes have stories of their youth where their bodies moved before they could think. Was that what happened to you?”

Crying, Izuku fell to the ground. He… he was just so happy. His hero was inspired by him. Him! And he did something important! He hadn't gotten this kind of praise since… forever, really. It felt freeing. The boy was just too shocked to speak, so All Might continued.

“Young man, you too can become a hero.”

Even with all the hundreds, if not thousands, of happy endings Izuku had read about, nothing made him happier than those eight words.


	2. Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s… it’s real? One For All wasn’t just a story?” Izuku asked back unsure. This was the strangest day ever! “But… but that would mean All For One is real too?” He finished, somehow even quieter.

“I deem you worthy of my power. From now on, I will teach you, and my quirk will be yours to inherit.”

What. What did All Might say? “Quirks can’t be passed down! Quirks are special to each person, you can’t get rid of one! Much less gain one out of nowhere! This really can’t be true, can it? This has never been done before! I just can’t believe it! Unless, was that old story-”

“Young man, haha! There’s not that much to comprehend! You should see your face, hahaha! But seriously, in interviews, I’m always asked my quirk. They always guess some sort of invulnerability, super strength, something like that. I always play it off, because people need to think that their symbol is a natural born hero. They can’t know the secrets behind this quirk. I wasn’t born with my quirk, it was passed to me by someone else! And someone else before them! I’m only the eighth holder. You can be ninth. I want to pass this down to you! I want you to inherit One For All!”

“It’s… it’s real? One For All wasn’t just a story?” Izuku asked back unsure. This was the strangest day ever! “But… but that would mean All For One is real too?” He finished, somehow even quieter. 

Suddenly, All Might got almost deathly serious. “Young man, where did you hear that name? Please, I need to know, this is quite important.” 

The tension was so thick in the air, it could have been cut with a knife.

“O-Oh! M-my bo-book! It-It’s one of my favorites!”

Alright, maybe those weren’t the best words to say. Of course, All Might’s shock was probably given, just hearing that one of the world’s greatest secrets was right there for anyone to read. Not that Izuku knew that. 

“...Your book? Can I see it? Or… maybe this would be better with my friend.” The hero took a second to think. “Well, my boy, this isn’t in any normal hero guidebook, that’s for sure! Ha… Alright, I’d like to tell you more about my offer, but it’s getting late. Do you know Dagoba beach? Meet me there tomorrow at 6 AM, and bring your book. Goodnight, young man, I’ll see you tomorrow!” All Might left after that. Talk about anticlimactic. 

‘Oh. A-alright!” Izuku yelled after. What was so important about the book? And what did All Might want with him? Something about a quirk being passed on? Looking into this more would probably be a good idea. So, thoroughly confused and a little scared, Izuku went home to research and read. 

_____________________________________________

Now, at the Musutafu police precinct, one Yagi Toshinori was waiting in the lobby for his friend, hoping he knew something. Honestly, Toshinori was probably just as confused as the boy he met before. How did he hear about All For One? And there was a whole book about him? That couldn’t have been good.

“Ah, Toshinori!” There he was, Tsukauchi Naomasa. “I just got done with my shift, perfect timing. Do you need something?”

“Haha, can’t I just visit my friend when I want to?” Toshinori joked lightly. Even if Naomasa didn’t have a lie detector quirk, the lie was quite obvious. “Alright, alright, haha. But maybe we should take this to your office. It’s about you-know-what.” 

The detective's eyes widened hearing that. “Right this way then, Toshinori.” 

When they were both sitting down comfortably, Toshinori broke the silence, “I think I found a successor.”

“Oh! That’s great. How did you meet him?”

“That’s… that’s not all. I mentioned One For All to him, offering it, and he said something about…” He got quieter at this point. “All For One.”

“All For One? Did he say anything else?”

“Ah, I believe he said something about a book, so I asked to meet him tomorrow and to bring it.”

“A… book? Well, it wouldn’t be too far that maybe a story or two about him got out. It is alarming, though.”

“Yes, but Naomasa, he also knew about One For All. I don’t know how much, I was gonna ask tomorrow. I came here to ask if you’d join?” At least Toshinori had the decency to look a little sheepish, coming here to Noamasa’s work and asking for personal favors.

A sigh came from the living lie detector. “Alright, can you message me the details? But this is just because I want to meet the kid and make sure he’s alright.”

“Yes, yes, of course. Thank you, Naomasa.”

Another sigh. “Anytime, Toshinori.”

_______________________________________________________

Gosh, Izuku had a lot of research to do now. It was too late to go to the library if he wanted to be home before dark, so home he went. At least he had his own book collection.

“Now, where is that old copy of Prophecies and Predictions? Ah! Okay, One, One, O, O, O… Aha! One For All, see: All For One? But that was just a story. Huh.” Already, Izuku was one the search for any book, any article he could find on One For All. He wanted to be as prepared as possible for the meeting tomorrow, and missing a few hours of sleep would be more than worth it! So, back to searching! 

“All, All... here!  _ All For One, myth from the beginning of quirks. A powerful villain who wanted to rule Japan, possibly the world, defeated by the holders of One For All. Legend has it that he’s been alive for hundreds of years, and isn’t truly killable. Every attempt at his life, and he’ll always come back… _ ” 

That got a gasp out of the boy. “Oh no! I’ll have to tell All Might tomorrow. Gosh, I know that this All For One guy probably isn’t real, but this is scary! What if he is? What if All Might can’t beat him? What if that was the villain from five years ago? Is… did All Might kill him? But… All For One’s probably unkillable! But that sounds like just a legend! No one can be unkillable! But quirks!” The muttering quickly turned into a one-man shouting match, bringing in new buts. 

“Izuku! Dinner’s ready!” If it weren’t for his mother’s calls, he probably would’ve gone all night.

“Oh! Coming, mom! Thanks!”

_________________________________________________________

“It should be illegal to be awake this early,” Izuku whispered to himself, triple checking he got the right place and time on his phone.

“Ah! Young Midoriya, I hope you weren’t waiting long!” Ah, there All Might was. It was about time, almost 20 minutes late. “Sorry for the wait, I was picking up my friend. Young Midoriya, this is Tsukauchi. Naomasa, this is Midoriya, who I mentioned last night.”

“Oh! It’s good to meet you, sir! And I uh, I brought the book!” He held up said book, the boy almost radiating nervous energy.

The detective replied, “It’s good to meet you too, Midoriya. Thanks for coming out so early, I just wanted to ask a few questions about your book.”

“Oh! Yeah! Totally-here! It’s one of my favorites, The Tale of Two Brothers. I don’t know the author, though. I’ve had this since forever, it’s pretty special to me. And I looked into it a lot more last night! It wa-”

“Woah there my boy, slow down, I can’t understand you when you’re muttering. So, can you run that one more time?”

“Yeah, Midoriya, could you tell us a bit about the story? You’re not in trouble, it’s just… interesting.”

“Ah, sorry,” the boy gave off a nervous laugh. “So, uh, it takes place around the beginning of quirks, and there are these two brothers. The older one had a quirk that could, uh, take and give quirks, but the younger brother was quirkless. The older one wanted to protect the younger one, I think, and became a villain, All For One. And, so, uh, the younger one wanted to stop his older brother, but the older one forced a quirk on him, stockpiling, I think. But the younger one had a secret quirk! It was the ability to pass down his quirk, so he named it One For All, and passed it on. The other holders of One For All kept trying to fight All For One, and it seems that he was taken down? But, another book,” he holds up the second book he was hugging, “said that All For One is unkillable? And you mentioned having One For All yesterday, so I did some more digging! And… I don’t think All For One is gone? Not to take away from your efforts, of course! It’s just that, well, your fight five years ago, I can only assume it was up against him, but if he’s made it this long, it might take more to kill him?” It ended off in more of a question than anything.

That was a lot for All Might to take in, even if the boy did slow down a lot this time. Luckily, Tsukauchi was able to step in. “That was very interesting, Midoriya, thank you. Do you know where you got the book? Oh, and are there any similar stories you could tell us about?” 

“Ah yeah! I mean yeah, sure.” Izuku tried to contain his excitement and nervousness. It really wasn’t everyday that someone asks him about something he loves, much less the number one hero and his friend. 

“I’ve kind of always had this book? I mean, I probably got it when I was young, I don’t really know much about it, sorry. But! At the library, I did find a sequel? It didn’t have anything on the cover either, or an author, but it also mentioned All For One and One For All, so I’d assume it was connected, I think. It just mentioned the other holders of One For All, and their quirks! It only went up to 6 users, though, there was nothing about you, All Might.” 

The child looked up at the hero who looked surprised by just the amount of information. It was a lot to take in, stuff that All Might didn’t seem to know.

“Could you tell us about them? Even I don’t know much about the previous holders.” All Might asked, trying to get more from the kid.

“Well, there was the first, Shigaraki, I think. He was the only one without a hero name, so I bet this was pretty early. Then he passed it down to the second, a pretty minor horse transformation quirk, I think. Her hero name was Genuine Risk. Nothing came up about the hero online, but there were some pretty old articles about a racehorse. The third holder had wings! Oh I would give anything for a quirk like that! Her hero name was Winx, which was an old cartoon about fairies, but also a racehorse! I can see where the inspiration comes from. The fourth one though, there wasn’t much about him, but I probably just need to look more. The fifth was Lariat, which is interesting because that’s a lasso, which also ties into the horse theme! Well, mostly at least! He had an energy manipulation quirk, that’s what I’m thinking, but he only ever really used it as a lasso. Then, the last holder, or at least last in the book, was named Tempest. His, uh, his quirk was boosting other people’s power, or maybe it was some sort of power sharing? There wasn’t much on it, sorry. He did break the horse theme, but there was a really old play called The Tempest, and he may have gotten inspiration from there? I mean, his quirk didn’t have anything to do with storms, but the play was about love and betrayal and it was a tragedy but also a comedy most sources weren’t really sure about it either but I thought that his quirk ties in with relationships and the stor-”

“Wow, the kid sure can talk,” Tsukauchi whispered lightheartedly to All Might.

“Hey, he’s helping us a lot, let him continue,” the blond returned. 

“I know, I know. But in all seriousness, nothing he’s said is a lie. Did you know any of this before?”

“I only knew of Tempest, he was Nana’s predecessor. This has been enlightening, really. I know I should tell him the rest, it’s only fair to him if he’s going to be my successor.”

“You picked a good one, Toshinori.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun thinking of the quirks and names, it was practically writing itself!! I know that yeah, some of the past holders do have canon quirks, but this is my story and I get to write about horses, haha. You don't really need to know anything about MLP for this, but once Izuku gets his quirks I want it to be like Equestria Girls. I'm still deciding on one of the holder's quirks, though. I don't know if I want to give him telekinesis like Sci-Twi, or being able to view memories like Sunset Shimmer.


	3. Hold Your Horses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Does this mean we’re friends?!” Izuku couldn’t help shout, only to be told to quiet down by the librarian.
> 
> “...Sure. We’re friends. Here, give me your phone,” Shinsou held a hand out. “I’ll put in my number.”
> 
> Izuku complied, starstruck by the whole encounter.
> 
> “Cool, well, message me anytime. I’ll be back here next week, probably.”
> 
> Izuku was probably sitting there for ten minutes before he realized his friend left. Shinsou was his friend! This was like the best day ever! He had a friend!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shinsou joins the party! 
> 
> Okay, I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about Shinsou, mostly positive, but one thing I really want to write about is Shinsou as a huge nerd. I see him as one, as he probably didn't have a whole lot of friends, so he probably turned to stuff like cartoons and fantasy! I don't think he's like a nerd nerd (if that makes sense), like with math and reading, I don't see him as a super think-y person, so I think he would really like cartoons. And in most fics where Shinsou has a family, he usually has a younger sibling, so I see that fitting in more. One problem with that is though, since heroes were made, most cartoons are hero propaganda, or are based on heroes and quirks. Shinsou hasn't yet come to terms with his quirk, so he doesn't like quirk era cartoons, hence the pre-quirk cartoons. Honestly, I wasn't sure what show I wanted him to like, and I may come back to edit it, but I was deciding between Adventure Time and Gravity Falls. I decided on Gravity Falls because while Adventure Time isn't explicitly about heroes, it's a little too close. And here's a good show to watch with a sibling. It's fantasy, but not quirk or superpower fantasy.

“Well,” the detective started, “I’m going to head out, but it was very nice to meet you, Midoriya. Thanks for coming so early.”

“Oh! It really was no problem! It was nice to meet you too, sir!” Izuku called back as he walked away.

“Now, young Midoriya, I have to tell you my story.” All Might sat down on the sand, the boy following the action. “When I was a young kid, around your age, I wanted to be a hero so badly. I wanted to be the symbol of peace, someone to look up to. But I was quirkless, and didn’t have anyone believing in me.

That is, until I met a pro hero, my hero, Eclipse. Her name was Shimura Nana, and she saw something in me. What, I don’t think I’ll ever know, but I’m very grateful. She told me that every great hero’s body moves before they can think. That’s what happened to you, isn’t it? She was a very wise woman, practically a mother to me. And so, she told me about One For All, and her mentor, Tempest. A quirk that could be passed down, I thought it was too good to be true. So, I took over the title of holder, and worked hard towards my goal. That’s how All Might was born. Please, don’t tell anyone about my quirk, it’s a secret for a reason. Oh, and when I’m in this form, my name is Yagi Toshinori.”

Izuku felt like the luckiest kid alive just to hear about this! He could hardly think, trying to process and remember everything he had been told. So, Yagi continued, “Now, I said this last night, but I want you to inherit One For All, and be my successor. Be the ninth holder of this sacred power.”

The kid was filled with awe. “I-I accept! I’ll do it!”

“I thought you would accept. Well, I brought you here for a reason, so listen up! Heroes don’t only fight villains and rescue others, a big part of heroics is giving back to the community! That’s what you’ll be doing!” The hero buffed up. “You’ll be cleaning this beach for the UA entrance exam!”

“A-All of it?” Izuku looked to both of his sides, seeing the beach covered in trash. 

“Yes, my boy! I’ve even worked up a meal plan for you with Naomasa, it should get you ready in 10 months if you follow it to the letter!” Yagi let go of his quirk, “Now, it’s going to be pretty hard, but I’ll be here for you. So get started, we don’t have all day!”

_____________________________________________________

“I don’t think I’ll survive 10 months,” Izuku groaned as he fell back onto the sand after working for a few hours. It was a weekend, and thank God for that.

“Haha, don’t worry, Young Midoriya, it’ll get easier as you work harder. We’re done for the day, do you want me to walk you home?”

The kid sat back up and waved Yagi off. “Oh no, don’t worry about me, I can get home. Oh, but thanks!”

“Really, it’s no problem. Hero-ing doesn’t wait for anyone, though, so I do have to leave. Stay safe, my boy!” Yagi called back as he started walking to his truck.

Now that Yagi was gone, there really was no reason to stay at the gross beach. It’s a shame that it got so messed up, but hopefully it would get cleaned these ten months. Hopefully. 

About to leave, Izuku heard something else nearby. So, like a genius, he decided to check out the mystery. There on the beach was a girl with bright pink hair hauling big sheets of metal through the sand. Izuku tried to be quiet and watch, but she saw him.

“Um… hello?” He tried to be friendly, but she only gave a giant gasp and ran off with the metal. “Oh.” Izuku left quickly after that, not wanting to stay around for another encounter like that.

_________________________________________

At home, Izuku could finally shower. Gosh, hot water felt so nice on his aching arms. And being clean meant he could finally go to the library! Jeez, it kept being pushed off, it’s almost like there was some magic force keeping him waiting. So now, in new, non-sweaty clothes, he grabbed some change and headed off.

The library was pretty empty, luckily. At least, at the front he could only see the lady who worked there (who he said hi to, of course), and a boy with purple hair. Oh, the boy was right at Izuku’s normal table. That’s alright, he can sit somewhere else. Somewhere else where the sun shines, but not too hard. Somewhere else right near the pre-quirk era shelves. Somewhe-

“Hey, green, do you need something? You’ve been staring for a few minutes.”

“Oh! Oh no, I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to stare, I was just looking where to sit, really! Sorry! It’s just you’re right by the pre-quirk books! But, uh, I’ll go now! Again, so-”

“I get it, don’t worry. You could sit here, though. There are more seats for a reason.”

“If you’re sure. Thank you!” Izuku sat down next to the taller kid. “If, uh, you don’t mind me asking, what were you looking at?”

The tall kid wasn’t quite amused with the small talk, but didn’t want to be too rude, either. “Some comics, nothing exciting.”

“Ah, I came here for fairytales! I really like pre-quirk stories, more magic, less focus on quirks! Oh! And I’m Midoriya! Just, so, uh, if we, we’re sitting together, it would be easier with names, and uh, I’ll be quiet now,” Izuku got quieter as he spoke, scared about annoying the guy. 

“...Shinsou. You know, you really don’t have to try and be my friend. I don’t think you’d like me all that much if you knew more about me, but thanks for trying, green,” Shinsou returned.

“Oh, alright,” Izuku went back to looking for any interesting looking book, his head down in shame.

It made sense for a library to be quiet, but this sure felt like a lot. Shinsou almost felt bad. Almost. So, after almost 10 minutes and Izuku didn’t sit back down, he decided to start talking again.

“I like pre-quirk stuff ‘cause I don’t have to think about damn quirks. I like cartoons over comics, but my mom wanted me to get out of the house, so I came here.” 

Izuku’s eyes lit up at Shinsou’s words. The words themselves weren’t too interesting, but it was the action that counted. “I totally get that! Do you have a favorite series?”

Begrudgingly, Shinsou answered, “I don’t really have a favorite, but I liked this one show, Gravity Falls.”

Izuku made a mental note, “I’ll definitely check it out!”

“You really don’t have to, don’t worry,” Shinsou tried to hide his smile. It’s been a while since anyone out of his family had really talked to him, and even then, it usually isn’t the most thrilling conversation. “What’s that?” After the question, Shinsou quickly corrected his words. “The book, I mean.” Huh, odd. 

“Oh!” Izuku got up from his crouch near the shelf and sat down back at the table, spreading out his book. With the confidence of All Might, he smiled and told Shinsou, “Shakespeare!” 

“Shakespeare.”

“Shakespeare! I was looking into one of his plays, for, uh, a personal project?” That came out much more like a question.

“A personal project that led you to look for some dead guy from a few hundred years ago. Heh, nerd.” Even though it was an insult, it didn’t hurt like every other insult Izuku had been told. Is this what having friends is like?

“Haha, yeah! I know it’s kind of lame, but I was actually looking into an older hero. Tempest, he worked around fifty years ago, but he was an interesting guy! So uh, I thought that I could look into the name, and maybe it would help me?”

“So not only a nerd, but also a hero nerd. Let me guess, you want to be one,” Shinsou figured out, only half joking.

“Well, I can dream, haha. I… don’t think I can, but I’m getting help, so I hope to apply to UA for high school! Are you applying?”

Shinsou paused. “...Yeah. I want to get into the hero course, too, but I doubt I’ll make it. What’s your quirk?” Again, before Izuku could answer, Shinsou talked again. “It can’t be as bad as mine, don’t worry.”

Izuku didn’t know what to say. He could lie, and betray his new maybe-friend’s trust, or he could come clean, and Shinsou might leave him. So, not wanting to disappoint Shinsou, he answers, “I’m, uh, I’m quirkless. Yeah.”

Shinsou doesn’t seem repulsed! He just looks surprised! There’s still hope!

“Oh. Well, I have a villain’s quirk, so I don’t worry there. It’s… brainwashing.”

“Brainwashing?!” Shinsou looked almost scared for what was coming next. “Oh that’s so cool! You could stop villains with just a few words! Is it voice activated? Is that why you haven’t asked too many questions? What’s it like to be brainwashed? Can you brainwash yourself? Is there a way to stop it? That’s the coolest quirk! You could help so many people! I bet you’d make a great hero! Can-” the hero nerd stopped, not wanting to bombard Shinsou with the questions. “Sorry. I, uh, I like quirks.”

“I… I could tell. I don’t know too much about it, not a lot of people really like the idea that someone else could control their minds.”

“Oh, oh jeez, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s cool. At least we can try to be heroes together. I wouldn’t mind it,” Shinsou said, trying to keep his cool, not caring demeanor.

“Does this mean we’re friends?!” Izuku couldn’t help shout, only to be told to quiet down by the librarian.

“...Sure. We’re friends. Here, give me your phone,” Shinsou held a hand out. “I’ll put in my number.”

Izuku complied, starstruck by the whole encounter.

“Cool, well, message me anytime. I’ll be back here next week, probably.”

Izuku was probably sitting there for ten minutes before he realized his friend left. Shinsou was his friend! This was like the best day ever! He had a friend!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now to talk about the holders of One For All!! I only made them right as I was writing, with a base plan of like 3 of the quirks I wanted them to have. But tempest, I want to talk about, cause I think it's pretty funny. The name Tempest is not based on The Tempest. I decided on Nana's name first, Eclipse, and couldn't think of anything for Tempest, but was like "hmm what's something edgy sounding? Something a middle schooler/younger high schooler would think of and be like "yes this is very cool"" And I got Tempest. I almost only thought of it because of Tempest Shadow, the villain from the My Little Pony movie. I don't know yet if I'm going to have MLP existing in this world or not, yet. But Tempest was as far as I could go for names but still making it make sense in my head. I gave him the share quirk because he looks like the youngest of the holders of One For All, and I've thought of him as this angry kid with a quirk that depends on having allies, but he doesn't have any allies, he doesn't try to get close to people because he's so angry at everything, frankly. So he rushed in to fight All For One and lost.
> 
> I wanted to explain the Tempest name because Izuku is really determined to look into it and see what it means, cause it doesn't match up with the horse theme. It doesn't mean anything though, not that he would know, haha.


	4. Horsing Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Okay, so Shinsou, if hypothetically I got a quirk, how would you feel?”
> 
> Shinsou looked up from his phone. “Where did this come from, green?”
> 
> “It’s just a question!” Izuku shouted back a little too defensively. “I mean, just imagine. If I had a quirk, like super strength or something. Just as an example.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Another chapter! I struggled a bit here, haha, I didn't really know what to write about, but I hope in the next two chapters to actually get anywhere? 
> 
> Did you know that there's a horse equivalent of crocs? I love crocs, and I love horses, so just knowing that there are horse crocs out there soothes my heart, haha. They're not actually crocs crocs, but they've been called horse crocs, so I'll take it! 
> 
> Actually, while working on this, I did listen to a lot of My Little Pony music, haha. My favorite pony is definitely Applejack, but Rarity is a close second. I love the AJ episodes, but Rarity has the best songs, like Art of the Dress and Everypony Should Know. Raise This Barn is also a banger, though.

A week later, Izuku was back at the library, looking for Shinsou. He’s had a pretty busy week! Training with Yagi had been really hard, but he’s still excited for it all! Then, there was watching the cartoon Shinsou recommended! It took all week to watch it, but it was really good! Unfortunately, with all he had going on, he didn’t get to look into his own projects, but that was fine. Oh, he was so excited to talk with Shinsou, he didn’t even notice the taller boy approaching.

“Hey, green. You alright there?”

“Oh! Oh sorry, Shinsou, I was just thinking!”

“It’s cool, don’t worry.” Shinsou sat down at the table they sat at last week.

“I listened to what you said last week! I watched Gravity Falls and it was really good! Too bad it was only two seasons.”

Shinsou looked at him like he grew a second head. “...You watched all of it in a week. Because I said I liked it. Alright, I don’t know if friends normally do this sort of thing, but you really didn’t have to. But thanks, green.”

The conversation was silent for a bit. Neither knew what to say, not used to friends. 

Surprisingly, Shinsou started, “So, did anything come from your project? The one with The Tempest, or whatever.”

“Yeah! I mean yeah. Yeah. It was kind of a dead end, I didn’t get very far, but at least I polished up on my English? I didn’t get much done this week, sorry. I’ve been pretty busy training.”

“Training? For what?”

“The UA entrance exam. I need to get stronger if I want to pass, so recently I’ve been working with a… trainer. Yeah. Are you not training?”

“I don’t see a need to. I’ve got my quirk, that’s all I need. No offense.”

“None taken, I get it, but what if your quirk doesn’t work there? I’ve heard the test is pretty biased, so what are you gonna do if you can’t brainwash your way through it?”

“I… hadn't thought about it,” Shinsou admits, embarrassed. 

“Do you want to join me?” Izuku asked. Only to follow up quickly, “Only if you want to, of course. Don’t feel pressured.”

Shinsou smiled slightly, but more than he had since they met. “Sure, that sounds nice. Could you text me the information? I owe you one, green.”

“No, no! It’s really my pleasure! It’ll be fun! We usually get started around six, but you don’t need to come that early.”

“Six. Six AM.”

“Yes? It’s not that early!”

“‘Not that early,’” Shinsou repeated. “Green, you’re my best friend, my only friend, but damn, this might just jeopardize that.”

“Shinsou! Fine! Then don’t come!” Izuku shot back.

____________________________________________________

Two days later, at Dagobah Beach, Hitoshi was there at exactly six AM. Midoriya waved him over.

“So, where’s this fancy trainer of yours? Can’t believe I’m here early.”

“Oh! Uh, he’s usually a little late. But he has an important job, so I get it,” Midoriya tried to answer, a little worrying how vague.

“Informative,” Shinsou said sarcastically. 

But speak of the devil, and he doth appear. “Young Midoriya!” the supposed trainer shouted as he jogged over. “I see you’ve brought your friend! Hello, I’m Yagi Toshinori, Young Midoriya’s trainer.”

“Shinsou Hitoshi,” the tall boy replied as he looked at the man. This was Midoriya’s trainer? He looked like a skeleton.

“Young Shinsou, I’ve only heard good things about you. Now, we should get started before it’s too late. Seize the day!”

Now, Hitoshi knew that he would have to wake up early, and probably work out, but he really did not expect to be hauling garbage and talking about cartoons with a friend. Even though it was pretty gross, it was nice. Maybe waking up at six would be worth it. Maybe. Probably not, but he could pretend.

“So, Shinsou, did you have fun?” Midoriya asked excitedly after they were done for the day, around 8:15.

“No,” he stated simply. “But I’d like to come back. It was nice hanging with you, green. My arms do feel like they’ll fall off if I lift anything else, though, so I’ll take this as an excuse to leave. Bye.”

“Bye, Shinsou! This was really fun, yeah!”

________________________________________________

The next few months passed like that, the pair working out every three days, and meeting up on Saturdays at the library. Izuku didn’t look too much into the previous holders of One For All, relatively satisfied with what he knew, but also he didn’t really know what to look into. It didn’t seem like any other holders had been very high on the hero charts, given that he couldn’t find anything about them, besides Eclipse, the number 98th hero for a bit. Shinsou still didn’t know anything about Yagi, One For All, or Izuku’s project. 

Until one day, that is. “Okay, so Shinsou, if hypothetically I got a quirk, how would you feel?”

Shinsou looked up from his phone. “Where did this come from, green?”

“It’s just a question!” Izuku shouted back a little too defensively. “I mean, just imagine. If I had a quirk, like super strength or something. Just as an example.”

Shinsou took a minute to think, putting down his phone. “Honestly, I would be fine with that. A little jealous, okay a good bit jealous of having a good quirk like that, but I’m not too envious of being quirkless for what? Ten years? It’s a balance. If anyone deserves a quirk like that, I think it’s you.”

Izuku almost cried at how nice that was. “Shinsou! Thank you!”

The purple haired boy just turned back to his phone, then added on to what he said before, “But don’t get caught up in any shady shit. You can’t be a hero if you’re a wanted criminal.”

“A-Alright! I’ll remember that!” Izuku tried to stop crying, but it didn’t seem like it would happen anytime soon. Shinsou was just so nice! Luckily, Shinsou was also more than used to Izuku’s tears. Or as used to it as he could be. It was quite worrying how much he could cry. 

That was about the only interesting encounter between the two for a while. That is, until almost the eight month mark. With a lot of hard work, the duo cleaned the beach, even more than they had to. They kept each other in check, Shinsou making sure Izuku didn’t work too hard, and Izuku getting Shinsou outside and moving. 

____________________________________________________

So, they were at the beach on a rest day, sitting on the now-clear sand, they could finally rest. They sat in silence for a while, but it wasn’t awkward. Or at least, until Izuku had to get something off his chest. He’d already checked with Yagi if he could tell Shinsou, he felt like he needed to.

“Uh, Shinsou, I have something I really need to tell you!”

Shinsou turned his head in surprise, “Shoot.”

“R-remember how a few months ago I asked how you would feel if I had a quirk?” Izuku asked nervously.

Shinsou just nodded, letting his friend continue.

“I… this training wasn’t just for the entrance exam. I was maybe sort of preparing to get a quirk possibly?!” Izuku finished off quickly.

“To… to get a quirk. Green, I told you not to get into anything shady, what did you do? You can’t just get a quirk.”

“Ah, I swear it isn’t anything bad!” Izuku took a few seconds to word his thoughts, or at least try to. “So there’s this quirk, One F-”

“One For All?”

Izuku looked terrified. “How did you know that?!”

“I don’t know if you’ve realized, but you kind of mutter a lot.”

“Oh,” He didn’t know how to feel about that, he should probably fix the muttering. “So, uh, there’s this quirk that could be passed down, One For All, and it’s had eight holders. It’s from almost the beginning of quirks. And I was chosen to be the next person to be gifted it? It’s current holder is actually Yagi-”

The taller of the two had to intervene at that. “Wait, wait, that skeleton of a man has some probably legendary quirk. He’s practically half-dead, and he’s supposed to be a champion.”

“So about that? You, uh, you know All Might?” Izuku tried to ask, almost too anxious to say anything. 

The gears could almost be seen turning in Shinsou’s head. “No. No!” Shinsou started laughing. “You’re bullshitting me, green. I refuse to believe this! Yagi can’t be!

Izuku couldn’t help join in the laughter. “He can! He is! I’m not… lying to you!”

“You’re, telling me you got the damn number one hero’s attention. What did you do, run into a crazy bad fight and he got inspired or something dumb like that?”

Izuku could only stay silent, smiling nervously.

“I swear, green, do I need a child leash for you? Not only a dumbass with no sense of safety, but one with super strength. What gods did I piss off?”

“Hey! That’s mean! In my defense, someone from my school was being attacked and the heroes weren’t doing anything!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll take your word for it.” Shinsou changed to a less light tone, “What I said before still apples, though.”

Izuku caught his eyes, a little confused by what he meant.

“If I wanted anyone to have an awesome quirk like that, it would be you. You deserve it, honest.”

Again, Izuku looked like he was holding back tears, only barely. The green haired boy didn’t really know what to say, Shinsou was so nice. 

“So,” Shinsou went on, “when are you getting this awesome quirk?”

“Oh! Oh hopefully soon? I was supposed to finish the beach, and we did that, so…” The boy ended it with a shrug.

“Ah, cool. Well, I’m sure Yagi will be surprised when he sees the beach, you did a good job.”

“Shinsou,  _ we  _ did a good job! We’re a team, yeah?” Izuku extended his hand for a fist bump, something he’s never done but has always wanted to do.

Shinsou returned the fist bump, leaning his head down to try and hide his smile a bit. “You know, if we’re friends, you can call me Hitoshi. We fist bumped, it’s official now.”

“Then, then you can call me Izuku! If you want to, of course!”

_________________________________________________________

Two days later, they had an actually scheduled work out day, and when Yagi saw the beach, calling him surprised would be an understatement. 

“Woah, woah, holy crap, boys, you cleaned it all. You even cleaned it two months before schedule. You both exceeded my expectations. Holy… stinkin’...” the old man shifted to his hero form quickly. “Supercrap!”

Now, Hitoshi knew that Yagi was All Might,  _ the  _ All Might, but it was a whole nother thing to see the transformation in person. 

“A-All Might! Do-do you think I’m ready now?”

“Yes of course! You did good, I’m very proud of both of you! Young Shinsou, I know Young Midoriya told you about One For All recently, and now that you’ve both come far and completed the training, I will pass it on now!” All Might turned to Izuku and continued, “You've worked very hard for this, my boy, and earned it! Someone told me once, there is a difference between luck and deserving. One is an accident, the other is a reward. Take that to heart, young man! So, as a reward for your hard work, here!” 

The hero plucked a hair from his head and held it out. “Eat this!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the world of My Hero Academia. I'm usually not big on superheroes, but I like this because it has more rhyme and reason than most hero series do. One thing I'm really curious about though is media. I imagine most TV, books, that stuff becoming really shitty after quirks. Almost everything is about heroes or a remake with quirks now. So pre-quirk stuff is nowhere near popular, but it's not super, super niche? I mean, there are still going to be original shows or movies or whatever, but it just doesn't really compare, because if it doesn't have quirks, it's boring and dumb, but if it does, it usually centers around them, and it's a dumb plot device most of the time. Even nowadays, most stories are about being a hero. Not necessarily a superhero, but a hero in some sense. I may have said this last time, haha. But, uh, that's just my take!!


	5. A Horse Of A Different Color (Don't Count Your Horses Before They Hatch)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You can say that again!” The retired hero shouted. Izuku could already see why All Might was scared of this old man. Hitoshi, on the other hand, looked pretty amused. Yagi just couldn’t catch a break. “You know, experience is the best teacher, so why don’t you two youngsters fight me. Come on, hit me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a lot to say today, but hi! My 's' key was jammed or something for writing almost all of this, so I had to go back and put in all the s's in the right places. It, it builds character?

“Huh?” “The fuck?!” Both boys were staring at All Might, shocked by what he said. 

The hero quickly explained, almost embarrassed by his actions, probably how weird he sounded. “To inherit my power, you’ve got to ingest some of my DNA, that’s how it works!”

Izuku took a few seconds before saying anything, “This isn’t exactly how I imagined this going.”

“Yeah, I expected some fantastical light or clouds parting or something. I’m just glad I’m not eating the hair, sorry, green.” Hitoshi laughed at his friend’s misfortune.

“Wow, thanks, Hitoshi,” Izuku replied sarcastically.

“Come on, my boy, eat it!” All Might urged.

“Yeah, come on, green, eat it.”

Izuku stared at Hitoshi, but it held no real bite. So, mock angrily, he took the hair from All Might’s giant hands and ate it, still keeping the stare.

“There, are you happy?” Izuku asked more to Shinsou, but All Might happily answered.

“Good job, Young Midoriya! Now, it should kick in in a little bit, so why don’t the two of you come back here tomorrow and we’ll test it! Is that alright?”

“Yeah! Sure thing, All Might!”

“Alright then, I must go now, but good job again!” As All Might gave those last words, he jumped off into the sky.

“So, green, how does it feel to be a bigshot now? Mr. Number One hero?”

“Haha, Hitoshi! I don’t even know if I’ll be any good at using it!”

“Do you wanna try using it?”

Izuku stopped. “What?”

“Well, if you’re not sure about it, then why don’t you use it?”

“But, but I think we should wait for Yagi tomorrow?”

“How bad can it go? I mean, worst case scenario, nothing happens, I bet.” 

Oh how wrong those words would prove to be.

“A-alright! I’ll do it!” Izuku tried to remember what he knows about quirks and tried to call on One For All. He felt it, but it wasn’t all there. A good thing probably, because the power was already almost overwhelming. It felt like a weighted blanket, shocking him when he tries to move it. Not particularly unpleasant, but not quite pleasant either. Something he would have to learn to work with. It was warm, though, soft to the touch. Bits of crackling electricity started to surround him, getting more intense by the second. Wisely, Hitoshi decided to stand back.

“Now punch something!” Hitoshi had to call from far away.

Izuku tried to give a thumbs up, but he could barely move, so he just shouted back. “Okay!”

And with that, in about two seconds, Izuku punched his arm forward, creating a giant gust of wind, pushing the two far, far back. There was almost a crater in the sand, a dip from where the sand all blew away. The electricity running around him dissipated, so Izuku finally looked at his arm.

“Oh. It’s purple. Haha, just like Hitoshi’s hair.” Izuku stated, then proceeded to scream bloody murder for about half a minute, and Hitoshi could only join him.

“Holy shit what do we do?!”

“I don’t know you told me to use the quirk!”

“What the fuck, Izuku, I didn’t know this would happen!”

“I know! I know, I’m just panicking!”

“So am I, dude!”

“Uh! Uh! Maybe call Yagi?!”

“I don’t have his number!”

“Then grab my phone! It’s in my pocket! The password is 3358!”

Shinsou walked over to Izuku, who was curled over himself on the ground, and took the phone. If they weren’t in such a situation, he would have definitely made a remark about the All Might case. But it really wasn’t the time right now. So, he made his way to the contacts app, looked for Yagi, and put it on speakerphone.

“My boy?” Yagi asked

Shinsou replied though, as Izuku didn’t seem to be able to get anything out without panicking. “Uh, hi, Yagi, there’s kinda an emergency right now,” Shinsou started, like his best friend didn’t have a practically shattered arm.

“Shinsou? What happened to Young Midoriya? Is everything alright?”

“Okay so we maybe sort of wanted to try One For All and he did and his arm is. His arm is kinda really fucking broken. He’s just sitting down right now, what should we do?”

Yagi made a sound of surprise, and Hitoshi could hear the sounds of him getting up and moving. “I’ll be right there, Young Shinsou. Please don’t move or touch anything!” And Yagi hung up right after.

“Wow, does he really have that little faith in me?” Hitoshi joked, then looked back at Izuku the mood fell flat. Luckily, an idea struck him. “Hey, hey Izuku, I need you to respond to me, can you do that?!” Shinsou really didn’t want to do this, but he felt he had to.

Izuku tried to look at his tall friend, but couldn’t think too clearly. “I-uh, okay o-” Luckily, it was enough. Izuku’s face went slack, and he stopped doing, well, anything. Hitoshi did feel a little bad about brainwashing him, but it was for the greater good.

“Calm down,” Hitoshi ordered, leading the other to follow. “Yagi should be here soon, it’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna hold you until then, alright?” He asked, even though he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. Thank God it was only less than ten minutes, and Yagi was at the beach with someone else. Hopefully someone who could help.

“Young Shinsou! Young Midoriya! I’m here now, and I have Recovery Girl!” If Izuku weren’t stuck by brainwashing, he would have freaked out over hearing Recovery Girl was here.

Recovery Girl did not seem amused. Luckily for the boys, it seemed to be directed at Yagi, but it probably wasn’t good anyways. “What happened here, dearie?”

Hitoshi glanced first at Yagi to make sure it was okay to tell her, and Yagi nodded, so he told her. “I pressured Izuku into using One For All and he did and it was a dumb idea.”

Yagi tried to step in, “It was probably too much for the boy, please don’t blame him.”

Recovery Girl just gave Yagi a dirty look, but then proceeded to walk over to Izuku and kiss him, healing his arm, so Shinsou released the brainwashing.

“AH! What happened?!” Izuku screamed almost immediately. The boy was still clutching his now fine arm, but he was really, really tired. 

“Your arm broke, dearie, but Yagi called me in to fix it. You’re lucky we could come so quick, that was awfully reckless! You should have waited until you were supervised to use your quirk!”

Izuku was trying not to cry as he shouted apologies. “I’m really sorry! I knew it was a bad idea but I still did it!”

“Hey, don’t blame him. It was my fault, I pushed him,” Hitoshi tried to interject.

The healing hero could only sigh. “Alright, this was a good learning experience, but be careful in the future. I don’t want to come back and heal you every day.”

Yagi looked quite thankful, if not a little embarrassed by the whole encounter. “Thank you, Chiyo.”

“Don’t even start, Toshinori. I have important things to do, I have to leave now. Goodbye, boys. Toshinori.”

As she left, Yagi looked back to the duo. “So, how about we go to UA next weekend, and we can start training there? It would probably be best if we avoided incidents like this in the near future.”

Going to UA sounded amazing! Izuku always wanted to go, being able to train there was the opportunity of a lifetime! “Alright! I’ll be there!”

“Sure. I’ll be free.” Hitoshi said simply. Truth be told, he did want to see the quirk in action. Well, safe action.

_____________________________________________________

Saturday rolled around rather quickly, and Izuku and Hitoshi were waiting at the UA gates together. It was a few minutes till seven, the agreed meeting time.

“So, Hitoshi, what do you think UA will be like?!” Izuku was practically shaking with excitement.

“Cool, probably. It’s just a school, you know that right? You can calm down.”

“Ah! Sorry! I’m just so excited!”

“I could tell.”

“I’m going to choose to ignore that! Oh gosh, this is a dream come true! Seeing UA in person!”

“Weren’t you planning on going here in a few months? You’d see it eventually.”

The two went back and forth for a few minutes, until they saw the gates open and a man dressed darkly look at them. 

He must have been wearing hero gear, it was just a little too much to not be. Izuku thought for a few seconds, trying to figure out the hero. Dark clothes, nothing to stand out, he must be underground. The scarf, some sort of weapon? It looked pretty heavy, too much to just be a comfort, but nothing that could do real damage on it’s own, so it was probably for mobility or capture. But what about the yellow goggles? They were made of a hard material with slits, as opposed to a lens, so the hero probably had an eye-related quirk. What sort of eye-related quirk would allow goggles, though? Nothing physical. An underground hero with a capture weapon and goggles… Eraserhead! Oh gosh, that’s Eraserhead!

The hero mentioned just looked at him. “That’s my name, kid, don’t wear it out.”

Izuku seemed terrified suddenly. “Oh no, did I say that out loud?”

Hitoshi could only try not to laugh.

“It’s not funny, Hitoshi! I just embarrassed myself in front of Eraserhead! The Eraserhead!”

“It, haha, it was pretty funny, green.”

Eraserhead just watched as they talked, looking tired, then decided to finally say something. “Follow me, I’ll be taking you to Gym Gamma.” And he started walking quickly, assuming the two would follow. They all walked to the gym in silence, the boys too afraid to say anything else. Soon, the hero stopped by a huge building. “We’re here. Go in, someone’s probably there.” With those final words, Eraserhead quickly walked to the UA main building. 

Even Hitoshi looked unnerved now. “Well, that sure was something. I don’t know what I expected.”

“Y-yeah. We should probably go in. I don’t want to keep anyone waiting.” Izuku opened the door, holding it for Hitoshi, then going inside. The gym was giant! It was also well lit, windows covering almost all of the walls. The structure was just all around amazing! Everything at UA was!

“Ah, boys!” Yagi called from the middle of the gym. “Come here, I have someone to introduce you to!” Izuku and Hitoshi picked up their pace, and Yagi continued. “Th-this is Gran-Gran Torino. He-he was my mentor after N-Nana.” 

“Yagi? Are you alright?” Izuku tried to help, but the previously mentioned mentor just laughed.

“Haha! He’s just terrified! Toshinori’s a big wimp!” Gran Torino just laughed as Yagi tried to maintain composure. 

“I-I ask-asked him h-here because he taught m-me, so I thought he c-could help yo-you. I know I’m not the best teacher-”

“You can say that again!” The retired hero shouted. Izuku could already see why All Might was scared of this old man. Hitoshi, on the other hand, looked pretty amused. Yagi just couldn’t catch a break. “You know, experience is the best teacher, so why don’t you two youngsters fight me. Come on, hit me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the name Eraserhead comes from this movie, and I haven't seen it, but today someone online said to search up the eraserhead baby. If you don't like creepy stuff, then I don't recommend it, but if you do, go look at that thing.
> 
> I hope this chapter isn't too ooc, haha, I struggled a bit with it. I feel like I'll probably end up struggling with most chapters, if I haven't already, haha, but that just means when I stop, I'm getting better.
> 
> I like Gran Torino, he's a funky old man. I'm not a fan of his costume, though. The cape seems awful for his quirk, and the whole thing is pretty bland but also that one shade of yellow that EVERY SINGLE HERO WEARS. I know that he used to be a lot taller when he was an active hero, but the gloves and boots just seem too big and heavy. He should be more fitted for climbing or travel, given his quirk, which is mobility based. The boots have some sort of support gear in them for the quirk, so they maybe get a pass.


End file.
